Went to Pe Ell last weekend and had a GREAT experience.

Now I have a question about tarvelling with ammo.

Going to Seattle from Orlando was a breeze, no problem. Coming home is a different story.
I won 2 bricks of ammo, so I came home with more ammo than I left home with. I was 1.5 lbs over the limit, had to donate it to the airlines. They said the limit was 11 lbs per approved container(?) and not per person flying on the same ticket. I said okay and she asked me to lock the ammo case. 15 minutes later I get paged and taken by police car back to the bowels of the airport to open the same ammo case so the TSA inspector can look at it. apparently they do not have an xray machine down there and because there was a picture of a pistol on the ammo case they thought it is a pistol and I have to declare it. I opened it up and showed them that it was just ammo, and they asked the officer to drive me back to the gate. Same ammo case I used for the Arkansas trip last year.



Where can I get an Airplane approved ammo case?
Do I have to lock the case?

Thanks for the info

I packed mine in its original boxes and put it in my checked luggage last year going to Phoenix for the nats. Did the same this year with the exception of I kept a brick in my checked luggage and put the rest in Duckgumbos case. Told them that there was ammo in the checked luggage, nothing more was said. Kind of a strange thing happened on the way back from Fla this year. I inadvertantly (fancy work for brain fart) packed my tool kit in my carry on luggage. Contains the usual sharp screwdrivers, torque wrench, vice grips, lots of stuff that you are not supposed to carry on. They opened it and questioned me as to what it was for and then passed it on through. Only thing they confiscated was a small bottle of cleaning solvent. Just got lucky that time. Of course, Arkansas is not exactly a hot bed for terrorism......Redneckism maybe, but not terrorism....

John, David and I all stored our ammo in the same peice of luggage! We started out with about 35 pounds (2 bricks per person + extras) of ammo in a cheapo wal-mart roll around.

The approved container is basically what ammo comes in, i.e. not 'loose' in a pile or zip-lock. Cardboard box is ok inside a checked bag. I have seen Frank carry ours in a ammo can. Never have I been requested to lock it and TSA 100% looked through the 35 pound monster this trip because they left a tag inside the bag... Keep in mind I KNOW this was well over the 11pound limit, but they didn't blink an eye...HAHA

YMMV,

Chicken

It's ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) regulations that specify the 5 Kg/11 lb weight limit. AFAIK it isn't a federal rule and, within reason, TSA could care less.

How closely the airlines adhere to it is an individual decision. Most do but the particular check-in agent may be pretty relaxed...and I've been told that there's at least one airline that doesn't seem to worry overmuch at all. Enroute to the CBC this year I told the agent that my suitcase contained ammunition and she immediately asked "How much?" I said "Well under the limit and in factory containers." (Which was true.) She accepted my response and never suggested actually weighing it...

Further, as far as FAA/TSA is concerned, you are perfectly OK with the ammo and rifles in the same case. (At least that's my understanding -- confirmed by several TSA people.) Most airlines, however, want it packed separately. I've heard horror stories that some airlines, in addition to following the federal rules requiring that it be in either original factory packaging or approved ammo containers like MTM boxes, have refused to accept it -- in the legal packaging -- in soft luggage.

The rules are 'stacked' and, even if you're in complete compliance with federal regs, the airlines can, and will, impose their own requirements. Unless you have a 'history' with a particular carrier and know their policies, the only safe thing to do is to query the individual airline before travelling and carry their written response with you when checking in.

That said, I've never heard of anyone, travelling domestically, encountering a problem when adhering to the 5 Kg limit and using factory boxes and hard luggage.